Shipping is more than just getting a product to a customer; it is vital for improving the customer experience and brand identity. The shipping plugin you choose must be strategically thought out. A good shipping solution will reduce errors, optimize your workflow, and increase customer experiences.
Shipping tools today offer much more than just shipping labels; think real-time rates, automation, advanced rules, branded tracking pages, etc. Today’s shipping tools scale your business. This article deals with five popular WooCommerce shipping plugins, and each is designed for a different use case and business size. If you’re looking for flexibility, automation, or USPS integration, there’s a plugin for you.
1. Table Rate Shipping by WooCommerce
Table Rate Shipping from WooCommerce is a powerful extension that allows store owners to create advanced, rule-based shipping options beyond flat rate. This extension is perfect for stores with a variety of product sizes or shipping to multiple zones. You can add up to 6 ways to set rates based on weight, number of items, destination, cart total, and many more ways to give you complete control over your shipping profit margins. The plugin comes with a clean interface, is easy to use, and builds complex shipping logic with no coding experience. For stores with specific requirements, a custom WooCommerce development company can help extend the solution.
Salient Features:
- Condition-based rules: You can set rates based on the weight of a cart, total value, shipping class, or customer location.
- Flexible rate calculation: You can choose how the shipping is charged, based on per order, per item, or shipping class when needed.
- Shipping Logic based on Zone: You can create different rate tables for different countries, regions, or even postal codes.
- Priority-based method control: You can define which of the shipping methods is displayed first at checkout.
Pricing: The plugin is priced at $99 per year.
2. WooCommerce Shipping
WooCommerce Shipping is a built-in free tool developed by Automattic that reduces shipping friction for store owners, especially for small and mid-sized businesses. Owners can print USPS and DHL shipping labels directly from the WooCommerce dashboard without using the ever-expanding list of third-party tools. It also gives you real-time shipping rates at checkout, automatic tracking updates, and discounted carrier rates when it comes to shipping methods. For the stores that want a quick and easy way to manage shipping and fulfillment, WooCommerce Shipping has everything you need right out of the box.
Salient Features:
- Print Labels In-Dashboard: You can generate and print your USPS and DHL shipping labels in the dashboard.
- Live Shipping Rates: You can show your customer live carrier rates when they check out to improve conversions.
- Auto Tracking & Notifications: The plugin allows you to send customers auto-progress and tracking updates in real-time.
- Discounted Rates: You can access USPS commercial and discounted DHL rates directly from the dashboard to reduce shipping costs and offer more affordable rates to your customers.
- Pay Per Label: No monthly fees; you only pay for the labels you generate, making it ideal for growing stores.
Pricing: WooCommerce Shipping is a Free Plugin.
3. ShipStation for WooCommerce
ShipStation for WooCommerce is an excellent shipping automation software that centralizes everything related to your shipping workflow and order management. ShipStation provides shipping label creation, shipment tracking, WooCommerce order servicing, and dashboarding. You can also build on it with custom WooCommerce development so that your integration matches your codes, your shipping rules, and your workflows.It can also help with multi-channel fulfillment by connecting to multiple services such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, meaning hours of work saved daily and normalizing your workflow.
Main Features:
- Multichannel Order Management: You can access, import, and manage orders in one app from WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and more.
- Batch Print & Automation: You can batch print labels, create and apply rules based on SKU, weight, and more, and automate shipping.
- Tracking Pages: When sending your customers to a tracking page, you can customize the text and colors of the tracking page and use your logo.
- Shipping rate comparison: The plugin allows you to compare live shipping rates with UPS, FedEx, USPS, and hundreds of other options to find the easiest and/or cheapest option.
- Inventory & Mobile Sync: You can auto-sync your inventory across platforms and fulfill orders anytime and from anywhere with mobile capabilities.
Pricing: ShipStation for WooCommerce starts from $9.99/month for up to 50 shipments.
4. ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin
ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin enables U.S. store owners to show the real-time USPS rates for their products, print the shipping labels, and manage their tracking shipments via their WooCommerce dashboard. The plugin calculates the shipping rates based on weight, dimensions, and destination, allowing for several USPS services at checkout.
The free version enables you to have live rates available, while the Pro version supports shipping label printing, shipment tracking, box packing, and insurance options as well, perfect for automating both domestic & international shipping. For U.S. WooCommerce stores, this plugin makes USPS shipping seamless and cost-effective.
Key Features:
- Real-Time USPS Rates: During checkout, you can offer real USPS rates based on weight and box size, based on destination.
- Stamps.com Integration: Integrating a Stamps.com account for automated postage and shipping from your WooCommerce Store
- Support for Multiple USPS Services: Allow or disable various USPS services by shipping zone or type of product.
- Fallback or Handling fees: Add handling fees or fallback rates if we cannot pull live API rates.
- Shipping Label Generation (Pro): Print USPS-approved labels within WooCommerce without leaving your site.
- Real-Time Tracking Updates (Pro): Automatically attach USPS tracking info to an order and send it to your customers.
- Box Packing Methods (Pro): Use packing methodology for the best packing method based on weight and/or volume.
- Print Shipping Manifests (Pro): A shipping manifest for the end-of-day shipping, when required, for bulk pickup orders.
Pricing: ELEX Woocommerce USPS Shipping Plugin is priced at $69 per year.
Wrapping Up!
If you’re going to run a successful WooCommerce store, you need a good shipping system. A shipping solution can do a lot of work for you and, therefore, reduce a lot of manual work for you, which, of course, helps improve your customers’ experience. A good place to start for your WooCommerce store is to offer real-time rates & label printing, and you can also automate order shipment notifications & tracking, etc. As your business grows and scales, so will your order fulfillment process, and you will need to make sure the tools & technology you use grow with you. In the end, shipping systems improve your productivity and “real” costs of fulfillment for buyers, but they can also build trust with buyers and hopefully give buyers the same experiences of perfect logistics every time after the purchase.
